New Pursuit
by TraverseTown
Summary: Pam's attempt to make a new sale has an unintended effect.
1. Lead

"Hey Stanley?" a female voice called out from above him. He looked up and saw Pam standing across from his desk behind Phyllis' empty chair.

"Yes?" Stanley answered mundanely.

"Do you have the lead contact info for Sherwin Jewelers? Michael gave wrote it down from me on a slip of paper, but I think Dwight took it off my desk?"

"I think so." Stanley replied as he flipped through his Rolodex. "That used to be Karen's account and nobody ever picked them up after she left."

"Really?" Pam answered curiously. "That's weird."

"From what I remember, it was a small company. Nothing special." Stanley continued.

"Sounds like my kind of business, right?" Pam joked with a grin. Stanley smiled back. He found the card filled in his contacts in a slip of old manila paper.

"Here you go." Stanley said benignly as he held out his hand with the lead's info on it. Pam took a few steps forwards and took it.

"Thanks." Pam said gratefully. "Do you think this info is up to date?"

"I wouldn't know." Stanley answered.

"I guess I'll find out when I ask for the wrong person." Pam jeered playfully.

"Yeah." Stanley replied awkwardly. There was a brief silence. Pam glanced at Stanley, down at the card, and back at Stanley.

"Well," she said conclusively, "Thanks again."

"Sure." responded Stanley.

Pam adjusted the collar on he gray buttoned suit and turned and walked back to her desk. She ran her fingers playfully through the hair of her husband, who was talking quietly on the phone, and smiled romantically at the gesture.

Stanley watched Pam place the card on her desk, pick up her receiver and prop it against her ear. She dialed the numbers carefully into her phone. Stanley did not look back down at his crossword puzzle.

After a few seconds of waiting, someone apparently answered on the other line.

"Hello? Hi, this is Pam Halpert calling from Dunder Mifflin Paper Company."

Stanley listened with a bizarre level of attention.

"Is this Sherwin Jewelers?" Pam asked. After a brief pause she continued, "No? … Really? … Oh, I apologize… I'm sorry … I'm sorry … Have a nice day."

Pam hung up her phone looking the slightest bit flustered. She tilted her head and looked at Stanley. "They said the jewelers closed up last year, it's a karate studio now."

"That's too bad." Stanley mumbled at a moderate tone.

"What?" Pam asked with a slightly raised tone, having not heard Stanley's guttural voice.

"I said 'That's too bad.'" Stanley repeated more didactically.

"Yeah." Pam replied with a disappointed tone. He watched her get up from her desk and walk to the wastepaper basket next to the copy machine. She crumbled up Stanley's outdated lead and tossed it in carelessly. She walked back to her desk and was just as quickly typing away at her computer.

Stanley didn't feel like finishing his crossword puzzle. He smiled, but he didn't know why.


	2. Weekly

"So, please everyone. I suggest you limit your printer usage over the next few months." Gabe said instructionally, "I know we're a printer company, but that doesn't mean printers grow on trees." Gabe joked quietly with a smirk.

"Wouldn't 'paper doesn't grow' on trees' be more appropriate?" Jim interjected from his seat.

"Why?" Gabe asked.

"You're limiting our printer usage to save money on the paper we use, not save the printers." Jim explained.

"Yeah, but-" Gabe began, but Michael jumped up from his seat.

"Wow!" Michael said with false enthusiasm. "Thanks a lot for the message from corporate Gabe!" Gabe awkwardly took Michael seat in the row of seats in the conference room.

Michael continued, "So, anyone else have anything for the staff meeting?" Michael addressed the group.

Stanley was sitting in the back corner of the room. His eyelids covered more than half his eyes on this mundane Friday morning. There was an empty seat between himself and Kelly, who was whispering to a clearly disinterested Ryan, who took a slow blink and adjusted his thick framed glasses.

Stanley barely paid attention anymore in the weekly staff meetings. He didn't need to; they were essentially obsolete. As long as he casually read the company's emails once a day and made his sales quota, no one typically bothered him.

"Excuse me," said a voice from the middle row. "I just have something to say." The slight urgency caught Stanley's attention for a brief moment before he fell back into disinterest.

Pam stood up from her seat to address her co-workers.

"I just wanted to remind everyone that the both toilets in the ladies restroom will be down for upgrade and repairs for most of next week." Pam announced with a moderate level of confidence. Stanley noted how quickly she was getting use to her position of office administrator.

Stanley found himself looking intently at Pam's back. He was two rows behind her, but he could still very clearly see the fibers of her yellow cardigan. He thought to himself how nice it looked on her, but he had never thought that way before about anything like that. He wasn't interested in clothing. Stanley looked at her hair. He remembered when her hair was pulled back more tightly, but she had worn it down for the past few years. He tried to imagine how her hair smelled, but he quickly pushed that thought from his brain.

Pam continued, "So, Bob at Vance Refrigeration was kind enough to let any of the women who need to use the restroom to just come across the hall to use theirs." Pam finished her thought and sat down.

"Thank you Mrs. PM Halpert." Michael proclaimed playfully. "Well, that's all for today." Michael paused. "Mosey on back to your desks now, ya'll hear?" Michael shouted in a clichéd Western accent.

Everyone gradually stood up and filed slowly out of the room. As Stanley made his way out of the conference room, he adjusted his thick red tie. Ryan let Stanley walk ahead before he stood up so Stanley was in the impromtu exiting line in front of Ryan, Kelly, and Darryl, but right behind Pam.

He smelled green apples and or maybe cherry blossoms.


End file.
